Washington and Oregon Compared

Washington and Oregon Both of the bordering states in these United States like to talk a lot of trash about each other Portlandia clip: “Seattle, gem of the Northwest How do they get away with this? When are we gonna be on the cover of Portland Monthly? They’re making a mockery of us here Look at this. They’re still talking about the Space Needle. Mr. Beat – But they have a lot in common Both began as part of Oregon Territory, established by the United States in 1848 after originally being inhabited by Native Americans, the Russians, a even the British for a bit. Both border the Pacific Ocean and are in the infamous Ring of Fire, an area where lots of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions tend to occur. Both are geographically diverse.
And yep, both have similar climates. West of the Cascades, the mountain range that runs north-south through both of the states, gets a lot of rain and the temperature is more moderate, whereas east of the Cascades is much drier with varied temperatures. That’s why you’ll get a picture like this, where you’re in the rainforest, and then drive east five hours and get a picture like this, where you’re basically in the freaking desert. Both are known for wine. Some of the best wine in the world is produced from the grapes grown in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and the Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley, and Tri-Cities region of Washington. Speaking of alcohol, both states have a ton of craft beer breweries, although Oregon has more per capita than Washington. Both states have a similar poverty rate and similar income levels, although Washington citizens definitely earn more, on average. The cost of living is similar in both states, overall, which is higher than most of the rest of the country. Both states’ biggest industries are healthcare, retail, and manufacturing, in that order, but you can’t mention the two states without their lumber production. They’ve got mad forests, there, I’m telling you. A lot of people in both Oregon and Washington have lighter skin. Only 4% in Washington and 2% in Oregon consider themselves African American. Around ⅕ of Oregon residents and Washington residents can trace their ancestry to Germany. Many of the earliest residents of European ancestry of both states came via the Oregon Trail, from the Midwest. Marijuana is legal in both states, although the laws that regulate it are less strict in Oregon. Both states lean to the left politically, and typically vote Democratic. Although the Cascades split both states politically, as east of them people tend to be more conservative. Both states are not that religious. Less residents belong to churches in Oregon and Washington than nearly all other states. Both border a foreign country. Washington borders Canada to the north and Oregon borders California to the south. Wait a sec…apparently California is also part of the United States. Scratch that, I’m sorry. So what about their differences? I mean, there are a lot of differences when you nitpick, like the fact that Washington produces much more apples than any other state and Oregon produces more hazelnuts than any other state, but in general terms, there are few major differences. Washington has a lot bigger population, despite being ⅔ the size of Oregon. Washington has around 7.3 million people, and Oregon just 4.1 million. So that’s why Washington gets 12 votes in the Electoral College and Oregon gets just 7. Washington’s population is also growing more quickly than Oregon’s. Washington residents are smarter than Oregon residents. Ok, I joke here, obviously. However, more than 41% of Washington residents have a college degree, whereas just under 38% of Oregon residents have one. Washington doesn’t have an income tax, Oregon has one of the highest income tax rates in the country. That’s quite misleading though, as Washington residents pay some of the highest sales tax rates in the country while Oregon residents pay some of the lowest. Now earlier I said the cost of living was similar overall in both states, but looking at the two biggest cities in both states, Portland, Oregon, is considerably cheaper to live in than Seattle, Washington. According to Sperling’s Best Places, Seattle is 26% more expensive than Portland. Portlandia clip: “We were wondering if you were interested in accepting Portland into your life. It can change your life. It certainly changed mind. Consider joining us, in Portland.” Mr. Beat: Washington wins in the mountain category. It’s highest peak, Mt. Rainer, is more than 3,000 feet higher than Oregon’s highest peak, Mt. Hood. Oh yeah? Well Oregon has three branches of government, and Washington, just two. So take that Washington. Washington is known for giant, worldwide corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Costco, and is simply known for more innovation and huge investment deals. Oregon has Nike, but I guess you can name any other ones off the top of your head. Here’s a major difference that explains why Washington has so much more industry than Oregon. Oregon has a lot more public land than Washington. In fact, all of its beaches are public, where as in Washington a lot of times you are trespassing when you are on the beach there. Around 53% of land in Oregon is federally owned, compared to just 28.5% in Washington. In conclusion, comparing Washington and Oregon might make a great case about how the two states should combine. They both have more in common that they have differences, and their differences complement each other well. Perhaps one day the border that exists between the two won’t have to exist. Where’s all my Washington and Oregon viewers at? If you are from one of these two states, let me know in the comments what I got right and, of course, what I got wrong. A shoutout to Unnamed Muffin, who supports me on Patreon and I believe is from Washington State. Also, a shout out to Hamish O’Reilly, my newest Patreon supporter! I am thinking about comparing two cities next. Which two cities should I compare? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for watching!

You left out Oregon's Department of transportation's ineptitude to take care of their roads hours of traffic in Portland every day as soon as you cross the river to Washington the traffic goes away and does anybody remember the shitshow of snow and ice they left on 205 and I-5 couple of years back damn near crippled Portland for a week

The land of my people! I'm from Washington and went to college in Portland, (I'm in Cleveland now). While they are similar they are distinct in that the the application of core values are expressed differently, both equally charming. I think that Oregonians are more interested in personal liberties – more Montana like than WA, outside of the big cities of OR folks want to rule their roost with more autonomy than a Washingtonian. I think this may be relational to the tax structures, WA has a collective good-necessary evil idea of taxes, while OR has a more personal ownership view, this is mine and that's all I'm paying for, thank you very much. I do not believe WA and OR could combine without also northern California (the state of Jefferson).

I'm from Oregon, only things I noticed wrongish are oregon having actually no sales tax and there being much more big brands coming from Oregon one being Kettle chips coming locally from my city of Salem.

If we combined, that would ultimately give us both less power in the electoral college, so as long as the electoral college is intact, you have a higher likelihood of states separating than you do of them combining. If we ever decide to abolish the electoral college and start going off of the popular vote, then that could be a possibility.

Watched it because I saw it had Oregon in it. Oregon gang represents. Pssssst we also have hydro flask 🙂 I think still…… started in Bend. One thing that would be cool was to see the sizes of towns and cities compared to each other or the actual lived space used by the citizens of either state since 2/3 of Oregon is high desert.

Oregon is a beautiful – gorgeous state to visit and camp in. But living there – pretty funky random real estate. It also does not look very prosperous; whereas, Washington is both drop-dead gorgeous AND much classier and prosperous looking.

Oregon has TONS of great business. They probably don't bring in the money like Amazon or Microsoft does but are non the less famous world-wide. Columbia Sportswear, Keen, Intel, Dakine, Danner, Poler, Leatherman, Pendleton, Chris King for example.